Dawn came slowly to Oakhaven.

  Pale light crept through the broken door, across the dirt floor, and finally reached Cassian's face. He hadn't slept. Couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Gren's hand around Liana's arm. Heard the crash of the door being kicked in. Felt the desperate terror of those moments before Kael appeared.

  Beside him, Liana stirred.

  She had fallen asleep against his shoulder sometime in the night, exhaustion finally overcoming fear. Her breathing was soft, her body warm against his. Even in sleep, her hand gripped his tunic, as if afraid he might disappear.

  Kael stood guard by the broken doorway.

  He hadn't moved all night. Hadn't slept. Hadn't even blinked, as far as Cassian could tell. He simply stood there, watching the darkness, ready to act at the first sign of danger.

  The five deserters y bound in the corner.

  Gren's wrist had swollen to twice its normal size. Voss stared at the ceiling with empty eyes. The other three—younger men, barely more than boys—huddled together for warmth, their faces marked with the same hunger that pgued everyone in this nd.

  Cassian looked at the system panel.

  [Liana Affection: 28/100 - Acquaintance]

  [Kael]

  · Type: Martial Warrior

  · Rank: Mortal Rank 4

  · Loyalty: Absolute

  · Status: Active

  [Inventory]

  · 1x Basic Healing Kit

  · [Empty] [Empty] [Empty]

  [Pocket Dimension Farm: LOCKED]

  · Requires: Affection milestone (25) with any wife

  · Current progress: Milestone reached, but unlock was not generated in reward bundle

  · Next chance: Affection milestone (50)

  So the farm would have to wait.

  That was fine. Cassian had more immediate concerns.

  Like expining everything to the woman sleeping on his shoulder.

  ---

  Liana woke to the sound of voices outside.

  Her eyes snapped open, her body tensing. Then she saw Kael at the door, saw the bound prisoners, saw Cassian beside her.

  She rexed slightly.

  "Morning," she said. Her voice was rough with sleep.

  "Morning," Cassian replied.

  She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Looked at Kael. Looked at the prisoners. Looked at Cassian.

  Then she stood, brushed the dirt from her dress, and said, "We need to talk. Now. Before anyone else comes."

  Cassian nodded.

  He turned to Kael. "Can you give us some privacy? Keep anyone from coming in?"

  Kael inclined his head. "Of course, Master." He gnced at the prisoners. "And these?"

  "Stay. They're not going anywhere."

  Kael stepped through the broken doorway and positioned himself outside. Through the gap, Cassian could see his broad back, unmoving.

  Liana waited until he was gone.

  Then she turned to face Cassian.

  "Start talking."

  ---

  Cassian took a breath.

  He had thought about this moment all night. Turned it over in his mind a hundred times. What to say. How to say it. What to keep secret and what to reveal.

  In the end, he decided on the truth.

  All of it.

  "My name is Cassian," he began. "That much is real. I was born in this cottage. My father was Marius. My mother was Elena. They're both dead now."

  Liana nodded slowly. "I know this."

  "What you don't know," Cassian continued, "is that I'm also someone else."

  He told her.

  About his old world. About the apartment and the keyboard and the te-night work. About the pain in his chest and the feeling of falling. About waking up in the mud with a stranger's memories flooding his mind.

  Liana listened without interrupting.

  Her face gave nothing away.

  When he finished that part, she said, "So you're not really Cassian. You're some... spirit? A ghost who stole a dead man's body?"

  "I don't know what I am," Cassian admitted. "But I remember being him. I remember his life, his parents, his fears. It's like... like I'm both people at once. The man who died in another world, and the man who was supposed to live here."

  Liana considered this.

  Then she said, "Keep talking."

  ---

  So he did.

  He told her about the system.

  About the blue panels only he could see. About the affection meter that measured their bond. About the rewards that appeared when that bond grew strong enough.

  "The cooking set," Liana said slowly. "The salt. The knives. That's where they came from."

  "Yes."

  "And Kael?"

  "The system gave him to me. When your affection reached twenty-five. It was a reward for... for us. For what we're building together."

  Liana was quiet for a long moment.

  Then she ughed.

  It was not a happy ugh. It was sharp and bitter and edged with something that might have been hysteria.

  "So everything," she said. "Everything that's happened since I met you. The honesty. The way you looked at me. Standing up to Gren even though you had no chance. It was all because of... points? Because you wanted rewards?"

  "No."

  Cassian said it firmly. Strongly. With more certainty than he felt.

  "The system doesn't tell me what to do, Liana. It doesn't give me quests or instructions. It just... watches. And when something real happens—when we share a moment, when you trust me, when I protect you—it rewards me afterward."

  He met her eyes.

  "I didn't stand up to Gren because of the system. I stood up to him because he had you. Because I couldn't watch him take you and do nothing. The system didn't make me feel that. It just... noticed."

  Liana stared at him.

  Her eyes were bright. Too bright.

  "You're telling me," she said slowly, "that there's a force in your head that measures how I feel about you. That it gives you gifts when I care more. That it knew—somehow knew—exactly when I started to trust you."

  "Yes."

  "And you expect me to be okay with this?"

  "No."

  Cassian shook his head.

  "I expect you to be angry. I expect you to be scared. I expect you to wonder if any of this is real or if the system is somehow making you feel things that aren't yours."

  He reached out and took her hand.

  She let him.

  "But I'm telling you the truth because you asked for it. Because you deserve it. Because st night, when you kissed my cheek, that was real. I felt it. You felt it. The system just... recorded it."

  Liana looked down at their joined hands.

  "He appeared," she whispered. "Kael. He just appeared out of nowhere. One moment there was nothing, and the next—" She shook her head. "I thought I was losing my mind."

  "You're not losing your mind."

  "How do I know that? How do I know any of this is real?"

  Cassian had no answer.

  ---

  The silence stretched between them.

  Outside, Cassian could hear voices. Vilgers gathering. Word spreading about the capture. Soon there would be questions. Soon there would be demands.

  But right now, there was only Liana.

  "You said the system measures my affection," she said finally. "What is it now?"

  Cassian looked at the panel.

  [Liana Affection: 28/100 - Acquaintance]

  "Twenty-eight," he said.

  "And what was it before you started talking? Before you told me all this?"

  "Twenty-eight."

  Liana nodded slowly. "So it didn't change. Even though I just learned that my husband is possessed by a ghost from another world and has a magic voice in his head that gives him presents when I like him enough."

  "No. It didn't change."

  "Why not?"

  Cassian thought about it.

  "Because the system only measures genuine affection. Real bonds. If you were going to stop caring about me because of the truth, it would have dropped. But it didn't. So maybe—" He hesitated. "Maybe you still care. Even after everything."

  Liana looked at him.

  Really looked at him.

  "You're not what I expected," she said quietly. "When I drew your name from that urn, I expected a farmer. Someone simple. Someone I could work alongside and maybe, in time, learn to tolerate. I didn't expect—" She gestured vaguely at everything. "This."

  "I didn't expect it either."

  Another silence.

  Then Liana squeezed his hand.

  "I don't understand this," she said. "I don't understand any of it. The system. The other world. The way Kael appeared. But I understand you." She met his eyes. "I understand that you could have let Gren take me. Could have hidden in the corner and hoped he didn't notice. Could have done nothing and kept your secrets safe."

  She lifted her free hand and touched his cheek.

  "But you didn't. You stood up. You grabbed that knife knowing you couldn't win. You summoned—whatever he is—to save me. And then you told me the truth when you could have lied."

  Her thumb traced his cheekbone.

  "That's not a system. That's not points or rewards. That's you."

  [Liana Affection: 30/100 - Acquaintance]

  Affection increased: Truth accepted. Trust deepened.

  Cassian felt something loosen in his chest.

  "So you're not leaving?" he asked.

  Liana almost smiled. "Where would I go? Back to the inn? Back to sleeping in stables?" She shook her head. "No, Cassian. I'm not leaving. I'm staying right here, in this leaky, broken cottage, with my strange husband who comes from nowhere and his magic warrior and his five prisoners."

  She paused.

  "But I have conditions."

  "Name them."

  "No more secrets. About the system, about the rewards, about anything. If something appears, you tell me. If something changes, you tell me. We're partners in this. Not just in marriage, but in... whatever this is."

  "Agreed."

  "And Kael. He's yours, you said. Completely loyal."

  "Yes."

  "Then he's ours. Mine too. If I give him an order, he follows it."

  Cassian looked toward the door. "Kael!"

  A moment ter, the warrior appeared in the broken doorway.

  "Yes, Master?"

  "This is Liana. My wife. From now on, her orders are my orders. You will protect her as you protect me. You will obey her as you obey me."

  Kael looked at Liana. His expression didn't change, but something in his eyes shifted. Respect, perhaps. Or acknowledgment.

  "Yes, Master." He turned to Liana and inclined his head. "Mistress."

  Liana blinked. "Mistress?"

  "You are the wife of my master," Kael said simply. "Therefore, you are my mistress. I will protect you with my life."

  "Oh." Liana looked slightly overwhelmed. "That's... thank you."

  Kael nodded and returned to his post.

  Liana turned back to Cassian. "He's very... intense."

  "He appeared from nowhere four hours ago and captured five armed men. I think intense comes with the package."

  Liana ughed.

  It was a real ugh this time. Warm and surprised, as if she hadn't expected to find anything funny ever again.

  "I married a madman," she said. "A possessed madman with a magic warrior and a voice in his head."

  "You did."

  "And I'm staying anyway."

  "You are."

  She shook her head, still smiling. "I must be mad too."

  ---

  The voices outside grew louder.

  Cassian moved to the broken door and looked out.

  A crowd had gathered. Two dozen vilgers at least, standing in a loose semicircle around the cottage. They stared at Kael with a mixture of fear and awe. They stared at the bound prisoners with something else—hope, maybe. Or the beginning of hope.

  At the front of the crowd stood three figures.

  The first was an old man with white hair and a staff—the vilge elder, Cassian's memories supplied. His name was Aldric. He had known Cassian's father. He had attended Cassian's mother's funeral.

  The second was a younger man in finer clothes. A traveler's cloak, dusty from the road, but good quality. A pin on his chest marked him as someone official. The tax collector, here for his quarterly visit. His name was Varro, and he was not a man to be trifled with.

  The third was a girl.

  Young, perhaps sixteen. Dark hair, dark eyes, her face still bearing the marks of st night's terror. She stood slightly behind the others, watching the cottage with an expression Cassian couldn't read.

  The system panel flickered.

  [NEW WIFE CANDIDATE DETECTED]

  Name: Mira

  Age: 16

  Status: Vilge girl, orphaned, lives alone

  Current Affection: 5/100 - Curious

  Note: Witnessed Kael's arrival and the capture of the deserters. Believes Cassian is blessed by the gods—or protected by something equally powerful.

  Second wife potential unlocked.

  Cassian stared at the panel.

  Then at the girl.

  She met his eyes for just a moment, then looked away, blushing.

  Liana appeared beside him. "What is it?"

  Cassian hesitated. Then remembered his promise.

  "The system just identified a potential second wife."

  Liana's expression didn't change. "A what?"

  "A woman who might—eventually—become my wife. Like you."

  Liana was quiet for a moment.

  Then she said, "How many?"

  "What?"

  "How many potential wives does this system think you should have?"

  Cassian looked at the panel. There was no answer there. Just Mira's name and affection score.

  "I don't know," he admitted. "It doesn't say."

  Liana nodded slowly.

  Then she looked at the girl—Mira—studying her with those dark, assessing eyes.

  "She's young."

  "Yes."

  "Pretty, in a starving sort of way."

  "Liana—"

  "I'm not angry, Cassian. I'm... processing." She turned to face him. "You have a system that rewards you for affection. For love. For children. It makes sense that it would want you to have more than one wife. More children mean more rewards. More wives mean more affection milestones."

  Cassian hadn't thought of it that way.

  "I didn't choose this," he said. "The system doesn't tell me what to do. It just... identifies possibilities."

  Liana nodded. "I believe you."

  She looked back at Mira.

  "But if she becomes part of this household—if anyone becomes part of this household—they answer to me. I'm the first wife. That means something."

  Cassian considered this.

  "It means everything," he agreed.

  Liana's lips curved. That almost-smile again.

  "Good. Now let's go deal with the elder and the tax collector before they decide we're more trouble than we're worth."

  ---

  END OF CHAPTER 4 (PART 1)